Pretty as a Peach

It’s that time of year again….

PEACH SEASON!

I wrote about my love of peaches last year here. But I just had to post about it again.

This year I will continue my tradition of canning peaches for my family to enjoy all year but this year is a little different.

REWIND…When my family and I moved into our house back in 2019, the previous owners told us there were two fruit trees in the back yard. I knew there was a pear tree, because when we looked at the house there was still one “rotting” pear hanging on the top most branches of the tree. I was unsure of what the other fruit tree was, but I was excited to find out the following spring.

FAST FORWARD…In the spring of 2020 my fruit trees bloomed and I discovered what my other tree was…You can probably guess due to the title of this post that it was a peach tree! I knew by the blossoms but was 100% certain when I found some old pits lying near the base of the tree.

After the blooms were gone I patiently awaited little fruits to start growing on both my trees. Then the weather took a turn and in southwest Ohio we had a cold snap….lows around 26-28 degrees for a week. I already had my veggie garden planted too and it was a sight for almost a week. My veggie garden looked like a circus. I strung Christmas lights all throughout the tiny plants and tented them. From our window upstairs it actually looked like I was looking down on a circus! BUT…back to the fruit trees.

I did nothing to protect them. And unfortunately I didn’t have any fruit last year. However, I learned something new this year and even if I had protected my trees I still wouldn’t have had any or much fruit.

FAST FORWARD…Spring 2021. My fruit trees are LOADED with tiny fruits. I did some research to see if some fruit trees are biannual and that is when I found the answer to my fruitless trees in 2020.

I found out that if you let your tree bear a heavy crop of fruit one year, the following year the tree will produce little to no fruit. This is because the tree put all its energy into producing so much fruit that it doesn’t have enough for the following year. The previous owners probably didn’t prune any of the fruit in 2019 to ensure this wouldn’t happen. (I got my information from this site).

I am learning as I go but hopefully my pruning efforts this year will ensure I have nice peaches and pears this year and every year going forward.

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Last year I developed a pattern called “Georgia Peach.” It is in my free patterns section and I will post it at the bottom of this post as well.

I am also going to post a correction to the pattern here. The correction doesn’t affect the pervious pattern but it takes two background pieces and combines them into one. I would change it on the original pattern, but I no longer have that program and since it isn’t a necessary change, I am going to leave the current pattern alone. My luck, I would accidently insert another typo and mess the whole thing up! (I am speaking from experience on one of my patterns for sale in my Etsy shop).

Here is the pattern correction:

You will combine pieces C & D. The new measurement will be 4″ x 2″ for the SIX inch block and 7 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ for the TWELVE inch block.

You will also combine pieces F & (1) E. The new measurement will be 1″ x 2 1/2″ for the SIX inch block and 4 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ for the TWELVE inch block.

I found this correction when making my newest pillow! I am a little pillow obsessed right now. This is my FIFTH pillow cover in the last 2 months.

This pillow makes me happy. The stripes are my favorite!

To make the peach block into a pillow, you can use my pillow tutorial here. The front of the pillow needs to measure 18″ so you will need to add some fabric to the sides of the 12″ quilt block. My suggestion is to make it slightly larger than 18″ so that you can trim it down after quilting. Sometimes my quilting shifts the fabric and makes it a little too small.